Aribeth de Tylmarande
Aribeth de Tylmarande is a pivotal character in Neverwinter Nights. She was once a paladin in the service of Neverwinter until she began to feel doubt after her lover Fenthick's execution on charges of negligence. She blamed Neverwinter for his execution and went to join the enemy Luskanites, leading an invasion of the city she once served. Depending on the player's choice, Aribeth is either killed or redeemed. History Aribeth was born in a town in the Neverwinter Wood region and was being trained to hunt until the town was destroyed by orcs, leaving her as the sole survivor. She obsessively hunted them on a quest for vengeance until she nearly succumbed to a blizzard, but was spared by what she believed to be the avatar of Tyr. She was brought to a monastery, where she frequently dreamed of Tyr telling her to let go of her vengeance. She eventually did and became the first female bodyguard of Nasher as well as a paladin of Tyr. It is in Neverwinter that she met Fenthick Moss and married him - however, in truth it was a loveless marriage she felt was proper for a paladin. When Neverwinter is stricken with the Wailing Death, she calls for mercenaries to aid the city, and meets the would-be Hero of Neverwinter. She is charged with retrieving spell components necessary to cure the plague, consisting of the body parts of various exotic creatures: the brain of an intellect devourer, the heart of a yuan-ti, the feather of a cockatrice and the hair of a dryad. She is assisted by Fenthick, as well as an apparent Helmite named Desther. When the academy where the Hero of Neverwinter is training is attacked, the creatures escape and are scattered through the city, and Aribeth charges them with getting them back. When the task is completed and the cure successfully created, Desther reveals himself as an agent for a strange cult and escapes to Helm's Hold with the cure in hand, while Fenthick follows, seemingly still trying to come to terms with his ally's betrayal. The Hero of Neverwinter retrieves the cure, while Desther is burned at the stake as punishment. Nasher hangs Fenthick on account of negligence. After the Hero of Neverwinter is sent to Port Llast to track down the cult responsible for the plague, Aribeth begins having nightmares regarding her lover's death. She dreams of Tyr turning his back on her and begins to have doubts about her faith. If the player is male and she confides to him about her dreams, she gives him a ring as a symbol of friendship. After the cult is located in Luskan, she comes to a consensus about what she must do, and soon disappears after arriving in the city. It is later revealed that she decided to turn on Neverwinter and become a blackguard for a strange reptilian entity named Morag, who was, in fact, the one who gave her the nightmares. Alongside Maugrim, who leads the cult worshiping Morag, she prepares to lead the Luskanites to destroy Neverwinter. When the invasion commences, she acknowledges she is Morag's pawn, and that she plans to wipe out all other races, herself included. She and the Hero of Neverwinter engage in battle, and when she surrenders, she is either killed or brought back to Nasher for judgment. The latter option is canon but is only possible if the player is male and has the aforementioned ring that she gave him. She hints at a possible romantic interest after her imprisonment. After Morag is destroyed, Aribeth is executed, causing Nasher and the Hero of Neverwinter to have a falling out. Hordes of the Underdark Aribeth returns towards the end of the expansion pack, Hordes of the Underdark. After her death, she went to Cania, the eighth hell of Baator. At the time, Mephistopheles had made plans to conquer the Prime Material and announced that he needed to devour the souls trapped in hell for an army. She was the only one who protested, but soon after, the archdevil found her weakness - that much of her pre-Fall grandstanding was overcompensating for her own guilt for feeling she was manipulating Fenthick, and this understanding that much of her pre-fall life was a sham caused her to submit. She is found frozen solid in a cave by the protagonist and is soon melted out of her frozen state with a campfire. She attacks the player out of confusion and anger and surrenders herself. She is now available as a henchman, and the player can make the choice to redeem her to her former paladinhood, or revert her to the path of the blackguard. If the player is male, she has a romance subplot with him. After Mephistopheles' defeat, she either atones for her mistakes by being a benevolent spirit and is eventually redeemed by Tyr, or remains evil; alternatively, she can betray the player to Mephistopheles and be killed in the final battle. Category:Dissociative Category:Contradictory Category:Scapegoat Category:Lawful Evil Category:Remorseful Category:D&D Villains Category:Video Game Villains Category:Status Dependent upon Player Choice Category:Fallen Heroes Category:Dark Knights Category:Hero's Lover Category:Delusional Category:Anti-Villain Category:Wrathful Category:Honorable Category:Female Category:Tragic